"I see you have heard of it before, Mr. Arrowsmith. Yes, 'Vampirism', as it's known among the masses, is, I believe, the cause of this plague. And, if the reports and journals I have read are to be believed, it is very real indeed."

Thomas nodded.

"Indeed I have heard of it. Monsieur Calmet wrote an interesting, but inconclusive treatise on the subject.

But if these... reports are to be believed, Sir Thomas, I must ask what use you have for a priest? It is not, I believe, possession by demon, so I cannot exorcise the afflicted. I am not, as you see, trained in combat; to say the least, I find my role puzzling, Sir Thomas."

"Indeed I have heard of it. Monsieur Calmet wrote an interesting, but inconclusive treatise on the subject.

But if these... reports are to be believed, Sir Thomas, I must ask what use you have for a priest? It is not, I believe, possession by demon, so I cannot exorcise the afflicted. I am not, as you see, trained in combat; to say the least, I find my role puzzling, Sir Thomas."

"It is my belief that we shall need more than skill with a blade to overcome these beasts, Mr Arrowsmith.

These are unholy creatures that we fight - it has often been postulated that these creatures may have some weakness against Apotropes and religious sacrement.

Furthermore, it is quite possible that it will be necessary to perform an exhumation - and I would feel better if it were done in the presence of a Clergyman.

And finally, it may sound foolish, but I would feel safer if we had someone to tend to our spiritual wellbeing"

Captain Velic had looked puzzled while Leyton had explained about the Vampires, before finally speaking.

"This is quite hard to believe...but the amount of evidence that points toward your conclusion is far too great to ignore. I think I should add what I've found out about these creatures to the discussion. They are very agile, I saw one able to scale a large wall in very short order, they seem to be able to shrug off small firearm blasts as if they're nothing and the big blasts seem to annoy them slightly but thats it. I haven't been able to test a sword or rapier against them yet. And they are very smart."

"Of course they are smart, Captain. The afflicted, once deceased, enter some form of 'undeath'. They retain their consciousness, and many of their physical abilities improve remarkably - allowing them to sustain wounds that you or I could not withstand. We are fortunate that the disease only causes death in a minority of cases, but the resulting beings are quite dangerous"

"I can assure you, Baron, that van Sweiten possessed a far greater intellect than you give him credit for - he omitted the truth about the 'plague' because he wished to avoid sparking mass hysteria."

Manfred made eye contact with Leyton.

"Oh, I am sure his intellect is beyond most of us, and perhaps he did halt the possibility of mass hystery. But he knew what these...'vampires' were, he knew what they could do. By lying to the people of Europe...to the world for that matter, we are now completely off-gaurd. If he had told everyone the truth on the matter, then we could've organized and begin the mass-extermination of these creatures. Many nations for one cause. Now we're...divided, they can just cause dissension and we would be unable to stop it until too late."

He tapped Hans on the shoulder and nodded toward the door, telling his servant that his services would no longer be required for the rest of the meeting.

"I wish to apologize for the violation of the secrecy of the meeting, but we can trust Hans, his family has proven themselves extremely loyal over the years. He'll gaurd the door, which is safe from what we are speaking."

"Of course they are smart, Captain. The afflicted, once deceased, enter some form of 'undeath'. They retain their consciousness, and many of their physical abilities improve remarkably - allowing them to sustain wounds that you or I could not withstand. We are fortunate that the disease only causes death in a minority of cases, but the resulting beings are quite dangerous"

"Leyton, Captain Velic, we are dealing with more then just the afflicted, they are not only some sort of...undead. We're not dealing with some sort of walking mort, which is entirely different..."

He took his diary of discoveries out of his jacket pocket.

"I have investigated them, they have already developed civilization, a religion, a code of command, evn their own language. They continue their advance at a rapid pace. I fear that their reason for this is none other then a form of domination in our world...I have recorded it."

He tossed his diary onto the center of the table.

"That book contains all the information I have gathered in the past few years, I even referenced some of it from Sweiten's writings...before their destruction by a Viennese Church..."

you very much If a tree would fall in the woods.....would the other trees laugh at it?

"Of course they are smart, Captain. The afflicted, once deceased, enter some form of 'undeath'. They retain their consciousness, and many of their physical abilities improve remarkably - allowing them to sustain wounds that you or I could not withstand. We are fortunate that the disease only causes death in a minority of cases, but the resulting beings are quite dangerous"

Does that mean that they no longer feel pain? If so then they are very dangerous foes.

"First of all, I would like to apologize to Ms. Douglas for my rude behavior earlier. What I said was unacceptable and were my wife still alive she would have smacked me across the face and she would have been totally justified in doing so. I assume that you are much more well versed in this sort of thing then I am and I do apologize for my behavior."

Velic then turned his mind back to the meeting at hand.

"Is it possible to somehow reverse this form of undeath? Anyway to cure the infected so that they may rest in peace? Or is killing them the only viable option?"

"If I understand vampires correctly, it is only reversible before they taste first blood. And even then, doing so requires killing another vampire. If we're fighting vampires, we're all going to have to get our hands dirty, no matter what." David explained, trying not to speak out of turn.

"If I understand vampires correctly, it is only reversible before they taste first blood. And even then, doing so requires killing another vampire. If we're fighting vampires, we're all going to have to get our hands dirty, no matter what."

John nodded and finally broke his silence. "Indeed...which is why I assume you invited me to this gathering Sir Thomas?"

As of 3/14/10, TSL is restored. The Sith Lords Restored Content Modification by Stoney and Zbyl has been finished and can be downloaded here.

"Oh, I am sure his intellect is beyond most of us, and perhaps he did halt the possibility of mass hystery. But he knew what these...'vampires' were, he knew what they could do. By lying to the people of Europe...to the world for that matter, we are now completely off-gaurd. If he had told everyone the truth on the matter, then we could've organized and begin the mass-extermination of these creatures. Many nations for one cause. Now we're...divided, they can just cause dissension and we would be unable to stop it until too late."

As the Baron continued blustering, Leyton reached inside his jacket pocket, and pulled out his Meerschaum and a small pouch of tobacco. He continued to listen to the Baron as he packed his pipe with the tobacco. After carefully lighting it, he took several short puffs, before replying to the Baron.

"If you are going to apportion blame, Baron, then it should be applied equally to the Prussian Court at Sanssouci, for it was not van Sweiten's place to release the information. The Empress of Austria shared this information with King Frederick, and they both decided that secrecy was the best option at the time"

There was something else about apologising for bringing an extra person to the meeting, and apparent findings about a culture amongst these creatures - backed up the rather hefty book the Baron deposited on the table.

"Thank you for this, Baron. I shall look at it in great detail shortly"

Captain Velic soon began to speak.
"Is it possible to somehow reverse this form of undeath? Anyway to cure the infected so that they may rest in peace? Or is killing them the only viable option?"

"It is not possible to reverse this undeath. As Mr. Smith rightly states, we can only prevent it - the only way to stop these creatures permanently is to destroy either their heart or brain - that, I believe, will destroy them for good."

His attention was diverted by Mr. Blake, who had thus far done his best to keep quiet throughout the meeting.

"Indeed...which is why I assume you invited me to this gathering Sir Thomas?"

"That is correct, Mr. Blake - that is why you are all here, although it will require us to leave the country in pursuit of these creatures"

He sat back down, and took some more of his pipe, pleased with the outcome of the meeting so far.

After Velic apologized to her, Ana had fallen entirely silent. It wasn't that she had nothing to add; it's just that in spite of her little spat with Velic, she wasn't inclined to argue. And there was a lot of argument, name dropping, and general rambling going on. Ana simply did not see fit to speak.

Then, Leyton sat down after a few exchanges of words with the others in the room, seeming rather pleased with himself and with this meeting. For her part, Ana could not see why. From her point of view, this meeting was a mess of puffed up male egos, random facts about vampires, and a vague attempt at explaining a potential weakness the creatures might have.

"You haven't given us much information to go on," she said finally in the pause that followed. "Basically, you've told us you think that destroying their heart or their brain will destroy them. Beyond that, you have not detailed anything on how to accomplish this, or where you think we ought to start in this... quest."

She sighed. "I am sorry, Sir Thomas, but it seems you have allowed your guests to interrupt your explanations. If this is not the case, if you truly do not have a fair understanding of exactly what it is you are asking us to do, then I am afraid I cannot help you. However, if you are merely being interrupted, please explain yourself quickly. I am well aware of the vampire threat and if you have a logical plan to follow, I will not leave until it is accomplished."

"I am sorry, Sir Thomas, but it seems you have allowed your guests to interrupt your explanations. If this is not the case, if you truly do not have a fair understanding of exactly what it is you are asking us to do, then I am afraid I cannot help you. However, if you are merely being interrupted, please explain yourself quickly. I am well aware of the vampire threat and if you have a logical plan to follow, I will not leave until it is accomplished."

The Baron heard this, and then abruptly sat down. She did have a point, and he imagined that the others in the room had a similar point-of-view. This meeting was wasting enough time, Manfred was not helping it.

It was time to sit, and listen to what Sir Thomas Leyton had to say, then they could move to strike these 'vampires.'

you very much If a tree would fall in the woods.....would the other trees laugh at it?

(sorry I took so long to get a reply - let's hope there's still some life left here )

After conversing with the Baron, Ms. Douglas, looking puzzled, began to speak.

"You haven't given us much information to go on,"

"I have given you as much information as I have at my disposal, Ms. Douglas. My hope here was to bring together all of our knowledge - I had hoped that where one of us might have gaps in our information, another of us could fill those gaps, to give us a complete understanding of these creatures."

"Basically, you've told us you think that destroying their heart or their brain will destroy them. Beyond that, you have not detailed anything on how to accomplish this, or where you think we ought to start in this... quest."

"I am certain that destroying either of those two centers will destroy them - every living creature requires both of them to function - why should the living dead be any different? And I know exactly where we must travel - Vienna"